Tell us about yourself.:
I am an extremely shortsighted and slightly shambolic bloke with a bad sense of direction living somewhere in NW London with my wife. Both our kids have now flown the nest. I was brought up in Ilford, a large suburban conurbation on the outskirts of East London. I wasn't particularly academic at school but was quite good at art and English. So I ended up going to art college in Maidstone and together with a good friend became interested in creative advertising. We put together a folio of work and were hired by a creative agency called Kirkwoods in 1980. By this time I had decided to become a copywriter and my partner who was a far better artist would take on the mantle of art director. Our working partnership would span a quarter of a century working for several different agencies. I started writing fiction when my other half retired from the industry in around 2007. And it was in 2011 that my first book 'Sleeping with the Blackbirds' was published.
Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?:
As I mentioned earlier, I was brought up in suburbia in the Greater London borough of Redbridge. Looking back, there were a number of extraordinary people who we were friends with living in the area who would go on and make a name for themselves in their respective fields. There was Bramwell Tovey, my brother's very good friend who became a conductor and composer. He'd go on to conduct some of the finest orchestras in the world and win a Grammy for his composition work. There was Ronald Hutton (now Professor Hutton) who has become one of this country's most eminent historians specialising in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. And our neighbour's son Malcolm Denmark would become a multi-millionaire with his company Mediaforce. Did any of this influence me? No, I don't think so. My biggest influences were through school and later on, at work. I had a wonderful English teacher by the name of Clive Lawton who was simply inspirational. He was radical in his approach to teaching in our large comprehensive school in Camden Town. He would turn everything on its head. For instance, he'd tell us that our syllabus was boring and that we were going to scrap it and do something far more interesting. He'd engage us in class debates on contentious issues and get us into storytelling. He'd instill into every child in that classroom a love of words and the power of words. He was totally unconventional but a quite brilliant teacher. Not surprisingly, he would make a name for himself in education and was eventually awarded an OBE. Then once I'd gained employment as a copywriter, I would encounter influential people. One such person was my Creative Director in the mid 80s, Ken Mullen. Ken is a brilliant writer with a wonderful sense of humour. With his academic background (two degrees from Oxford University) he might have cut a daunting figure. But he wasn't at all. Instead, he was a fantastically encouraging, supportive and nurturing boss to have around. And he was a great fun. On one occasion he and his art director created a press campaign for real fires for the Solid Fuel Advisory Service. This involved commissioning novelists to wax lyrical about their own real fires at home. Among the authors commissioned was the fabulous Beryl Bainbridge whose piece won a prestigious D&AD Silver award for the best piece of copy written for a press advertisement that year. And I was fortunate enough to sit next to her at the awards dinner. And looking back, I think it was pretty inspirational to sit and chat with this very lovely, down to earth lady who also happened to be one of the greatest living novelists in the country.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don't know if it's particularly unusual, but I quite like writing in different locations on an old Chromebook. I have written in cafes, holiday cottages, as well as the garden and different rooms around the house. Most of my first book ('Sleeping with the Blackbirds') was written in an office where I was literally waiting to be made redundant. It took the best part of a year before they let me go – by which time I had virtually finished my first book.
What authors have influenced you?
As I mentioned earlier, I was brought up in suburbia in the Greater London borough of Redbridge. Looking back, there were a number of extraordinary people who we were friends with living in the area who would go on and make a name for themselves in their respective fields. There was Bramwell Tovey, my brother's very good friend who became a conductor and composer. He'd go on to conduct some of the finest orchestras in the world and win a Grammy for his composition work. There was Ronald Hutton (now Professor Hutton) who has become one of this country's most eminent historians specialising in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. And our neighbour's son Malcolm Denmark would become a multi-millionaire with his company Mediaforce. Did any of this influence me? No, I don't think so. My biggest influences were through school and later on, at work. I had a wonderful English teacher by the name of Clive Lawton who was simply inspirational. He was radical in his approach to teaching in our large comprehensive school in Camden Town. He would turn everything on its head. For instance, he'd tell us that our syllabus was boring and that we were going to scrap it and do something far more interesting. He'd engage us in class debates on contentious issues and get us into storytelling. He'd instill into every child in that classroom a love of words and the power of words. He was totally unconventional but a quite brilliant teacher. Not surprisingly, he would make a name for himself in education and was eventually awarded an OBE. Then once I'd gained employment as a copywriter, I would encounter influential people. One such person was my Creative Director in the mid 80s, Ken Mullen. Ken is a brilliant writer with a wonderful sense of humour. With his academic background (two degrees from Oxford University) he might have cut a daunting figure. But he wasn't at all. Instead, he was a fantastically encouraging, supportive and nurturing boss to have around. And he was a great fun. On one occasion he and his art director created a press campaign for real fires for the Solid Fuel Advisory Service. This involved commissioning novelists to wax lyrical about their own real fires at home. Among the authors commissioned was the fabulous Beryl Bainbridge whose piece won a prestigious D&AD Silver award for the best piece of copy written for a press advertisement that year. And I was fortunate enough to sit next to her at the awards dinner. And looking back, I think it was pretty inspirational to sit and chat with this very lovely, down to earth lady who also happened to be one of the greatest living novelists in the country.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My only advice is to be yourself and enjoy your writing. Don't be deterred by rejection letters from literary agents. Everyone receives them. Even j K Rowling has a huge pile of them.
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